Lug nuts are commonly used for mounting and holding a tire on a vehicle. The nuts are installed or removed either with a manual tire wrench or a power-driven socket wrench. Typical lug nuts are hexagonal in shape and employ a correspondingly shaped mated socket for attaching and removing the lug nuts.
Within the field of automobile racing, periodic pit stops are required during the race to allow for refueling and changing of the vehicle's tires. The duration of a pit stop may be of critical importance. As such, time is of the essence as a typical pit crew tries to refuel a vehicle and change all four vehicle tires within a 15-20 second time window. To accomplish this as rapidly as possible, power socket wrenches are used to remove and secure the lug nuts. The typical lug nut used on the automotive racing circuit is sized to fit the dimensions of a mated socket wrench. If the lug nut is improperly positioned within the socket, the lug nut may be ejected from the socket as the socket wrench is rotated. Further, the alignment of the lug nut to the mated socket can be time consuming since tight tolerances exist between a typical lug nut and socket. Such delays are costly in terms of the duration of the pit stop.
One technique commonly used by a pit crew is to fasten the lug nuts over the openings in a spare tire prior to a pit stop so that the pit crew is not required to manually place the lug nuts on the studs of the wheel hub. To accomplish this, an adhesive material, such as a caulking product or adhesive tab, is used to position the lug nuts in position opposite the mounting bores defined by the wheel. Once positioned, the wheel, having the pre-aligned lug nuts positioned over the mounting bores, is ready for immediate mounting onto the wheel hub.
In the context of a race car pit stop, the socket wrench is typically rotating prior to contacting the lug nut. At times, the lug nut will become jammed within the socket, particularly if the lug nut is engaged at a slight angle. In other instances, while the lug nut may not jam within the socket, the rotating socket will contact the lug nut in such a manner that the lug nut will fly off in various directions. In either instance, the delay results in an extended pit stop, thereby increasing the difficulty of running a competitive race.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved nut/socket wrench combination which will alleviate the jamming of a lug nut within the socket and decrease the loss of a lug nut during installation.